Ofcom report cyberbullying among UK children

Children in the UK are at risk of cyberbullying anywhere they interact online, finds a new report by City, University of London and the National Centre for Social Research (Natcen).

The report was co-authored by City's Dr Carrie-Anne Myers and researchers from Natcen. It outlines the key attributes and experiences of cyberbullying among children in the UK and was commissioned by Ofcom, with the support of the Anti-Bullying Alliance and The Diana Award.

Cyberbullying includes exclusionary behaviour, such as being removed from group chats or getting kicked out of online games, directly targeting someone with critical messages on their posts, and sharing negative or private content.

The bad behaviour occurs on social media accounts, on messaging apps or on online gaming platforms. Comment functions and direct messaging were identified as the main enablers for harassment, as well as the ease with which children can create new, unverified accounts across multiple platforms.

The impacts of being cyberbullied are devastating. Some students reported withdrawing from socialising and avoiding going into school, which could impact their schooling and have a knock-on effect on their career prospects. School staff and youth practitioners also provided accounts of the impacts of cyberbullying extending into adulthood, with victims experiencing challenges developing trusting relationships.

Some reasons children were the targets of cyberbullying included being different from their peers physically, or in the way they spoke, in their hobbies and interests, or because of their family’s socioeconomic background. Othe reasons included relationship breakdowns or having personal disagreements with each other. Girls, in particular, were more likely to be targeted.

For the children acting like bullies online, their motivations included a desire for power or control, or out of peer pressure. Children also felt there was a lack of repercussions for their online behaviour, with one saying, “online it’s so easy to get away with.”

Discussing the findings, Dr Carrie-Anne Myers said:

I’ve researched bullying and its impact for over 25 years.

What’s important about this project is that it clearly demonstrates there is no clear cut difference between an online versus offline world.

Central to participants’ accounts was a view that cyberbullying often did not happen in isolation from face-to-face bullying.

Rather, online and offline bullying were frequently interlinked, often through in-person connection in shared places such as school.

For me, this is where further research and understanding in how to deal with the complex issues around bullying behaviours need to be tackled.

The ‘online world’ is everyone’s daily reality and we need to continue to explore children and young people's experience and understanding of harmful behaviours in order to protect and safeguard them.